Final answer:
The research by scholars like Janet Hyde and Anne Fausto-Sterling, along with legal opinions regarding the terms 'sex' and 'gender' by Supreme Court Justices, indicates that gender distinctions in language, possibly including ASL, are likely cultural rather than biological.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question of whether there is a gender distinction in ASL and in language generally is an inquiry into how gender influences communication styles. Research over the years has aimed to discern whether gendered ways of speaking are biologically inherent or socially constructed.
Psychologist Janet Hyde's meta-analysis suggests no significant differences in the speech patterns of girls and boys. Robin Lakoff put forth that women and men are socialized to speak differently, a view supported by some linguists and challenged by others.
The overarching consensus now leans towards speech differences being culturally rather than biologically based, an ideology further backed by researchers such as Anne Fausto-Sterling, who found that cognitive abilities largely do not differ between genders.
Considering all these perspectives, it seems that cultural socialization plays a significant role in how gender impacts language use and that any prevalent differences in the ways men and women communicate are influenced by sociocultural factors rather than biological determinism.
While the nuances of ASL were not provided in the resources, the overarching findings related to spoken language likely parallel issues of gender distinction in ASL as well, suggesting that any perceived differences may arise from social and cultural norms shaping communication behaviors.